One step onto the practice court Tuesday, and Serena Williams went viral again. People were so happy to see her playing tennis after a year of injury and sickness? Hah! It was the bright pink body suit. Did you see it? It was outrageous. It was incredible. It was genius. Williams is a brand all to herself.

Two days earlier, Tiger Woods, whose name, and brand, had turned to mud, made a run to the lead at the Masters, and everyone went nuts. He was back! The red shirt. The killer attitude. The fun. Forgive and forget what? Who could remember?

He didn’t win. And here’s a question for you: What is the name of the guy who did? Come on, I’m waiting. It was only two days ago. I’ll spot you his first name: Charl. Schwartzel. That’s the last name. And when Tiger won the Masters the first time years ago, Tigermania was set off.

Don’t wait for Schwartzelmania.

What we’ve seen in the past few days is a prime example of our celebrity culture, yes. But that culture seems to be on steroids now, partly because of the immediacy of modern media. If you want to be an athlete who transcends your sport, you’d better be ready for the world of Twitter and iPhone cameras.

On top of that, everything is calculated now for the brand. It’s the TMZing of American sports.

We’ve always watched the best players, and turned them into celebrities. That’s not new. But it’s intensifying now.

LeBron James had a nice brand in Cleveland, and then blew that with the antics surrounding “The Decision” and his move to Miami. He has still been the focus of the NBA season.

He is not without his brand. He just re-branded. One title and he’ll be beloved again.

I’m not complaining about this, just noticing it now more than ever.

It’s not enough to be great at a sport. You have to have a famous supermodel girlfriend, an infamous moment, a pink body suit. If not, then you go unnoticed outside of your home town. And the sport itself – other than football – is in trouble.

So Tom Brady is a brand. Kobe Bryant is brand.

Hockey does not have a player that is truly a brand. Baseball? Maybe Alex Rodriguez.

Golf has one. And when he’s not there, the game disappears. No sport can live on Schwartzelmania.

Serena Williams is a brand, so when she puts on a wild pink outfit, everyone talks. If Albert Pujols, not a brand, put on all-pink, everyone would say, “What the heck is he doing?’’

At the Final Four, I kept writing about Butler as the anti-brand. In some ways, that anti-brand actually became the Bulldogs brand.

But I saw them as evidence that not everything has to be about celebrity to transcend a sport. Maybe just doing the right things and playing well should be rewarded. Some things actually could happen naturally. Turned out, they proved the opposite.

I should have known early in the second half when the NCAA went down press row, handing out a release saying that after the game, all interviews on court were to end as soon as they started playing “One Shining Moment” on the big board overhead. Confetti would fall, and players would be allowed to cut down the nets.

“Players will be escorted to the locker room immediately once the second net has been cut down,” the paper read.

Even the heartfelt celebration would be choreographed into a correct brand?

In the end, of course, Butler lost, playing the worst national championship game ever. Connecticut won behind Kemba Walker, who has since declared for the draft. All the stars leave college basketball for the NBA as soon as possible. As a result, college hoops has lost its brand and is in deep trouble. Except during March Madness, which is its own brand.

Check out the Chicago Cubs. They were thriving for years as America’s lovable losers. Then they became the losers finally about to win. Now, no chance of winning, they are losers again, but it’s not lovable. They have lost their brand, and are in jeopardy of losing their dominance of the city.

The NBA has finally rebranded after Michael Jordan left. Multiple stars together on teams. It is the most interesting season in years. Still, the best player has been Chicago’s Derrick Rose, but he’s not anywhere near the brand yet of LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe. Rose needs something other than basketball -- a scandal or a girlfriend or something.

Tiger’s brand was changed by his scandal, but he is being rebranded now as someone who has learned from his mistakes. I never thought his sex life was any of our business, but that was naïve of me with the TMZing of sports.

The entirety of Williams’ assault on pop culture Tuesday was a picture she posted on her Twitter account, which has 2 million followers.

I haven’t seen Nike claim credit for this yet, but it sure looked like a setup, with that Swoosh showing. The outfit was genius. It’s what makes Serena who she is. No one else could have worn that. Day earlier, tennis lost its next best player, Kim Clijsters, for a few months after she tore up her ankle falling off high heels while dancing at a wedding.

Crickets. No one noticed.

One second in hot pink, and Williams, the master of getting people talking about her and all her different outfits, was already the talk of the sports world.

By the way, I just did a search on GoDaddy. No one has bought the domain name Schwartzelmania.com. … Still available, just $11.99 a year.